The Pretty Blog

Welcome to The Pretty Blog! We are so excited to finally be up and running. Fifteen months of planning, dreaming and hard work has finally paid off. Now we are ready to start sharing all our pretty ideas and inspiration with you…! But let me tell you a little bit more about the blog.

Most girls fantasise about their dream wedding. Planning that dream wedding in a real world with budgets, family and a tight white dress to fit into can soon turn into a nightmare. If you look at the beaming bride at the altar, you would never believe that wedding planning can be so challenging.

After the excitement of the engagement has worn off you have to start organising the big event, and of course you want it to be perfect. For most newly engaged girls this can be very confusing and overwhelming time. You will hear the words “you only get married once” on a regular basis, which can easily result in overspending – and sometimes it’s not even what you really wanted. For these exact reasons we have created The Pretty Blog to help brides to ease things along. With the smart planning tips, creative ideas and ingenuity which you will find on The Pretty Blog, you will be well on your way to successfully planning your big day.

We are not wedding planners but Nicola has planned her own wedding, and I am in the process of planning my own. So we understand the challenges and sticky situations that many brides have to deal with. I have also photographed well over a hundred weddings, so I have seen pretty much everything. But most importantly we are crazy about weddings. Weddings are our passion and we love everything about it, beautiful locations, dresses, shoes, food, bubbly, decor, stationary and most important of all, people in love. What’s not to love?

But wait, there’s more. (I’ve always wanted to say that :) The Pretty Blog has more to offer than just weddings. Like the name indicates, we will blog about all things pretty. The Pretty Blog will be packed with many decor, food and fashion ideas to prettify your life. What it boils down to is that whatever we find that we like, we’ll share it on the blog.

MORE ABOUT US:

We are two twenty-something girls with a passion for anything creative…and of course pretty. Nicola and I met a little over two years ago. We soon became good friends and ended up talking about every wedding I shot. The many queries about service providers I received, as well as the planning of Nicola’s own wedding gave rise to the idea to start a local wedding blog.

More about me:

As many of you know I recently got engaged to Iaan, my boyfriend of 8 years. Well we’re not wasting any time, we’re getting married on the 23 rd October, YES, this year! Obviously I don’t have the luxury of time on my side, so I have my work cut out for me. I will be sharing my wedding planning experience here on The Pretty Blog, so make sure to visit regularly for the latest updates.

More about Nicola
Nicola got married at the end of last year. So just by going through the whole experience she can advise as well as sympathise with all the challenges that many brides face during their wedding planning experience. She’s also easing into the role of a wife, and surprise, surprise that also takes lots of planning. Her latest project is decorating her new home and she’s also trying her hand at gardening. So stay tuned for all her decor finds.

SO HOW DOES THE PRETTY BLOG WORK?

The Pretty Blog is there to give you practical assistance when planning your big day. The Pretty Blog consists of the following sections:

• REAL WEDDINGS:

We adore real weddings with real love stories, so The Pretty Blog will be packed with a variety of gorgeous real weddings. From classic to alternative, flashy to DIY…if it’s inspirational and of course, pretty, we’ll feature it on the blog! The Pretty Blog also gives you the opportunity to inspire others. If you want to share your wedding with us, please click on the submit something pretty section on the home page.

• HELPFUL HINTS:

Between the two of us we have organised almost two weddings. I also  have loads of do’s and don’ts to share with you, as I’m at a wedding practically every weekend. We will also call on some expert advice from our awesome vendors to keep us up to date with the latest trends.

• DO-ABLE DIY’s:

One of the best ways to save money is to “do it yourself” …or ask your friends and family to help you. We will share easy and pretty DIY’s with you on a regular basis. DIY’s won’t only save you money but they’ll also give your wedding a more personal touch.

• PRETTY LITTLE THINGS:

We will introduce you to our favourite shops, new products and all the pretty little things we get our hands on.

• STYLISH IDEAS:

Under our stylish ideas section you will find beautiful things to inspire an unforgettable wedding day.

• AWESOME VENDORS:

Visit the awesome vendors section to get hold of the most trusted vendors in the industry. And they are really, really awesome, we promise.

• INSPIRATION GALLERIES:

COMING SOON!

Visit the inspiration galleries to get ideas for your wedding folder. All the beautiful pictures from the real wedding section gets divided into certain categories to simplify the search process. You can also download the images you like to save and use for your wedding inspiration.

• BLOGS WE LOVE

Also check out all the wonderful blogs that we love and admire.

• SUBMIT SOMETHING PRETTY

If you have something pretty, we would love to feature it on the blog. Any food, beauty, décor, fashion ideas or products are welcome, especially from up and coming creatives. If you had a pretty real wedding, we would also love to hear from you.

Finally, we want to say a big thank you to all the photographers, brides and service providers that helped us to kick start the blog. We truly appreciate your time and effort. Another big thank you to everyone that will help us in the future. This blog won’t be possible without you. We would like also like to thank Iaan and Cindy from Plus Plus Minus for their hard work. Another thank you goes to Andrea for lending a helping hand. Last but not least thanks to Iaan and Wynand for your love, support and understanding through this new venture.

We hope you will enjoy the blog as much as we enjoy working on it.

xox Christine and Nicola